Perhaps you visit the Bishop Arts District to eat, drink and shop just because.

This weekend you can drink there for two causes.

Partake of the offerings at Alex’s Lemonade Stand in support of pediatric cancer research. The second annual event including a bake sale, carnival, photo ops and more will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday outside the Cozy Cottage children’s clothing store at the corner of Eighth and Bishop.

Organizer and Cozy Cottage owner Cynthia Herndon welcomes baked goods, volunteers and cash donations at the event or right cheer.

We hope to see more than project foes at the shindig. Bring on the backers, COG’s Michael Morris, the City Council’s Vonciel Jones Hill, tollway authority board members, Rodger Jones of our editorial board to name but a few.

How about a mud rassle? Let’s settle this Sunday evening outside 316 W. Seventh St. and move on.

Francisco “Pancho” Diaz, longtime patriarch of Chango Botánica, died Friday after a years-long battle with cancer.

Diaz, 74, helped meet many a spiritual need at the shop he opened on West Davis Street almost 37 years ago, selling candles, herbs, icons and other supplies for the soul.

His family will be at Laurel Land Funeral Home and Cemetery, 6000 S. Interstate 35E, from noon to 8 p.m. today, with a viewing of the body from 6 to 8 p.m. and a rosary prayer at 7.

His youngest son, Jorge Diaz, will keep the business alive. “Things will continue as if my father were here,” he said. “I’ll never sell the place.”

Jorge said he won’t attend today’s gathering because he figures his father is now and forever will be with him at the shop, his spirit residing with his longtime friend El Negro, the statue of a seated African-American man. “He thought it guided him,” Jorge said.

“I appreciate the community that loved my father,” he said. “I’m going to miss the little guy. He was my best friend.”

… On the environment front, Oak Cliff resident John Lunsford will lead a bird walk for beginning birders this Saturday, March 30 at Twelve Hills Nature Center. The 1.5-hour walk through the grounds near 817 Mary Cliff Road begins at 8 a.m. And the next Saturday, April 6, volunteers are invited to help spruce up the butterfly gardens and remove invasive plants at the center from 9 to 11 a.m. Questions: Contact Marcie Haley at marcieh@gmail.com or 214-941-6069….

…. Also on April 6, volunteers will plant 100 trees in Oak Cliff’s Summit Hills neighborhood. If you want to help show up at Kiest Park at 8 a.m. for transportation to the planting sites. TXU Energy and the city are supplying the trees. For more details click here….

… You’ll find plenty of tree-huggers and more at Lake Cliff Park come April 21. The seventh annual Oak Cliff Earth Day runs from noon to 5 p.m. that Sunday. Event details, including sponsor and vendor registration opportunities, right cheer. …
… Paul Quinn College will host its third annual A Community Cooks fund-raiser for the school’s WE over ME Farm starting at 6 p.m. April 11. The event will feature the creations of an impressive lineup of Dallas chefs, live music and, as the news release says, “lots of new surprises.” Get more information and buy tickets right here. …

…. Members of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra will return to Kidd Springs Park for a free concert on June 5 beginning at 8 p.m. And the DSO will perform Friday, April 5, at Cliff Temple Baptist Church, 125 Sunset. Starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets cost $15 to $25. Buy them here.…

…. The Fort Worth Avenue Development Group is seeking proposals from artists for its next Spare pArts Public Art Initiative. The selected work — of re-used materials — will be installed near the vendor trailers at the Dallas West Mobile Home/RV Park. Artists get $5,000 for materials, labor and installation. Deadline is April 19. More right here. …

Vicki Fitzgerald, a longtime Oak Cliff friend and volunteer, died Monday in Tulsa, OK, after a battle with cancer.

She will be remembered at a graveside service at 1 p.m. Saturday at New Zion United Methodist Church, 280 E. Boggy Depot Road in Atoka, Okla. Plans for a local memorial service at Tyler Street Methodist Church are pending.

Vicki was born in Austin on Feb. 2, 1954, and raised in Mesquite, graduating from North Mesquite High School in 1972. She worked in the cosmetic industry, beginning as a makeup artist and becoming an account executive for companies such as Chanel, La Prairie and Escada.

She married Richard Fitzgerald in 1985, and in 1998 they bought a home in Winnetka Heights. She would become a tireless Oak Cliff advocate and volunteer, helping lead, for example, home tours for the Old Oak Cliff Conservation League and the Winnetka Heights Neighborhood Association. She was also a board member of the Oak Cliff Society of Fine Arts and a passionate rescuer and protector of animals.

More than 400 of her and Richard’s friends attended a fund-raiser for Vicki on Aug. 22 at the Kessler Theater.

Survivors include her husband, Richard; sons, Brandon, Justin and Patrick Fitzgerald; and three grandsons.